Mathieu “ZywOo” Herbaut has been named HLTV’s Player of the Year for 2025, marking his fourth time receiving the prestigious honor. The announcement, made during the HLTV Awards ceremony in Belgrade, sees the Vitality star surpass consensus-GOAT of CS:GO Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev’s previous record of three #1 finishes, cementing ZywOo’s place as the most decorated player in HLTV rankings history.
The GOAT debate heats up again—s1mple vs. ZywOo
ZywOo now stands alone at the pinnacle of Counter-Strike. s1mple’s trio of titles (2018, 2021, 2022) have finally been eclipsed by the French sniper, as he makes his case for the title of Greatest player of All Time even stronger. Emerging as a superstar in 2019, ZywOo shocked the world, taking over from s1mple as the world number one. And after a back-and-forth battle with the Ukrainian star across Counter-Strike’s COVID-impacted year, he managed to go back-to-back as well.
But it’s been the later years, especially 2025, where he has managed to find a team that can regularly support him throughout the year. With Robin “ropz” Kool, himself a top three player this year, in tow, ZywOo led Vitality to nine big trophies, including two majors. The team also completed the ESL Grand Slam, marking 2025 as a year of dominance. In sheer volume of results and team performance, it eclipses s1mple’s best year of 2021.
Related—HLTV names s1mple the best player in the world over dev1ce
The ZywOo-donk debate for 2025
Despite ostensibly being a rating of the best individuals in CS2, the HLTV ranking has always valued MVPs and EVPs significantly. Since these awards depend on a player’s performance deep into the playoffs, with MVPs always being given out to event finalists, sometimes the team’s role in a player’s ranking can be rather strong.
In the eyes of many fans, 2025 will be one such year. Danil “donk” Kryshkovets may have won the Opener of the Year award, but statistically he emerges as the strongest player of the year as well. But with Spirit’s struggles, he simply did not have enough EVP and MVP awards to snatch the number one spot away from ZywOo.
The stats behind ZywOo’s HLTV #1 ranking
Here are some notable stats from ZywOo’s 2025 performance:
- Eight MVP awards (including two majors and IEM Katowice)
- Five EVP awards
- 1.32 rating
- 81 percent maps above 1.00 rating
- +3.42 percent round swing
- 0.83 kill per round
With the Vitality roster unchanged heading into 2026, ZywOo now has the chance to continue his era of dominance, with the supporting cast all playing their roles brilliantly in his aid. Can Vitality have another dominant year in 2026?
